Disney rushes Lost finale to international broadcasters

The two and a half hour finale of Lost will be seen in international markets at the same time as the US broadcast, marking the first time a US network series has been shown simultaneously in the US and abroad.

Aware of the hype around the climax to the iconic series, and the fact that big-ticket serialised series such as Lost are among the most frequently illegally downloaded, Disney is delivering the final episode to broadcasters and platforms in the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Canada to coincide with the US west coast broadcast on Sunday at 9pm.

A further 59 countries will air the finale in a 24-48-hour window after the US broadcast.

Disney has been one of the most aggressive of the Hollywood studios in delivering series to broadcasters close to the US airing, but has never before made one of its shows available internationally at the same time as it is seen in the US.

 “Lost‘s’ intrinsic global appeal and enthusiastic international following have driven a demand to create innovative windowing opportunities to air the programming on earlier and more convenient platforms,” said Ben Pyne, president, global distribution, Disney Media Networks. “Since the show’s first season, we have greatly accelerated all of our US network series’ international delivery, broadcast and marketing.”

The non subtitled version of the show will be screened simultaneously with the US by Sky 1 (UK), Fox Italia, Telecom Italia; Cuatro (Spain); Fox Spain and Portugal, Digiturk (Turkey); Hot (Israel); and CTV (Canada).

Lost comes to an end this Sunday after six seasons and 114 episodes on US network ABC.